Arab Revolutions for Reform and the Demise of al Qaeda Ideology

In a recorded message, Ayman al Zawahri, deputy leader of Al-Qaeda, called on Muslims in North Africa to fight NATO forces in Libya, and accused the US of supporting former Tunisian and Egyptian presidents, but only withdrawing their support when they were no longer beneficial to US interests.

 

Engineer Khaled Hamza, Chief Editor of Ikhwanweb, the official English website of the Muslim Brotherhood, criticised al Zawahri’s message, which he described as "a desperate attempt by al Qaeda to impose itself as a player for change amidst the huge popular and international support for non-violent revolutions across the Arab world". Hamza added that the success of peaceful revolutions in toppling authoritarian regimes in Tunisia and Egypt and replacing them with democratic representative governments was a significant blow to al Qaeda extremist ideology, which always claimed that violent Jihad was the only way of regime change in the Middle East. He called on al Zawahri to learn from the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions, and give up terrorism to seek political change, instead of inciting more violence and hatred.

 

Hamza added that a significant aspect of any religion is to respect human life, dignity, freedom and justice, and Islam teaches us to discover common ground on which to stand as we build more just societies.